The Infinity Star
by Windfred's Man
Summary: Not even three weeks after they parted, Will and Lyra are brought back together by a mysterious jewel in the tip of the Subtle Knife. Chapter 8 is up!
1. A Gift from Mr Parry

Chapter One

A Gift from Mr. Parry

Rain beat on the window of the room that Will Parry had to call his own. He was in the little room that Mary Malone had given him in her little flat. His mother had gone to lie down, she wasn't feeling well today, and Mary had gone about town to look for a new job, since her former employers were not very keen to allow her to come back to her old job. This left Will to stare out the window into the rainy midday. Kirjava, his daemon, was now permanently fixed in the form of a large cat and sitting beside him on the windowsill.

"You're still thinking about her, aren't you?" Kirjava asked. Without looking away from the window, Will said, "Yeah." The daemon gave him a look of pity mixed with understanding as she proceeded to lick her human's hand. Will chuckled. The boy then proceeded to pick his daemon up and they left the room. What Kirjava had asked was quite true; Will could not get Lyra off of his mind. It seemed like only yesterday that he last embraced her, spoke to her. He still loved her, and it showed in more ways than one. He though about her many times every day, what she would do in any given situation, and what she would say.

Will couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, though it was probably sometime yesterday. So he walked into the shabby little kitchen, opened the ragged refrigerator, and pulled an apple out of the crisper. He also poured a bit of the cat food that Mary had bough for Kirjava into a bowl for his daemon and the two of them sat on the floor, eating and chatting. "Do you think they're alright?" Kirjava asked.

"I dunno."

"I wonder if she's thinking about you."

"I think she is."

"Too bad we can't go back, huh?"

Will was silent as he turned to his daemon and gave her a piercing, calculating look. A drop of sweat glistened from Kirjava's forehead. Will's eyebrow raised.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Kirjava?" He asked, hiding his suspicious feelings. Kirjava shook her cat head and promptly took to grooming herself.

Mary Malone returned around seven-thirty that night, having had no luck at all, and dropped into an empty chair. Will gave her a look of sadness and admiration as he walked over to her, Kirjava beside him, and handed her a lilac mug full of freshly brewed coffee. "Thank you, Will." Mary said, taking the mug quite happily. "Is your mother okay?" "She went back to lie down for a little while, she's not feeling well at all." Will reported diligently. Mary nodded as she took a sip of the coffee and then choked a bit; it was a tad too strong.

"Sorry," said Will sheepishly.

Will lay in his bed that night, Kirjava curled up at his feet under the covers, purring in her sleep. Sleep refused to even pay Will a visit that night, so he eventually left the warmth of his bed and walked over to the window again. The rain had receded and the night was calm and clear. Stars twinkled overhead, bright. He then went on to imagine Lyra there with him, the light reflecting off of her eyes and smile. Both their lips coming closer and closer together.

"**Will,"**

Will came back to the present and looked about. Kirjava was still asleep under the covers and there was no one else in the room.

"**Will, here my voice,"**  
The second time he heard it, Will could not mistake it for anything else. It was the voice of John Parry, his father.

"**Will."**

"I can hear you Dad," Will said.

"**Good, I was afraid that you could not. My time is short and I am glad I found you."**

"Can-?" He paused, "Can you become more solid?"

"**No, I can't. I'm only a few particles of my former self. But there is something that I must tell you."**

The voice of John Parry paused, as though in hesitation, and then spoke once again. **"Do…do you still have the pieces of the Subtle Knife?"**

Will raised an eyebrow, "Yes…why?"

"**Bring them out quickly, I don't have much time."**

Will went over to the small chest of drawers and, after moving a stack of shirts, pulled out a small black box. Inside were the broken fragments of the Subtle Knife. Will held them out, unsure of where he was supposed to hold it out to. The sound that followed was of Mr. Parry sucking his teeth.

"**The tip,"**

"The tip?" Will asked.

"**The tip."** John Parry's voice chimed in an assuring tone. Will picked up the jagged tip from the box. It began to glow. "What in the-?" Will nearly dropped the shard in surprise.

"**The Infinity Star.**"

"The what-?" Will asked.

"**I don't have much time left, so I'll make this simple. That is the tool you need to battle the coming darkness."**

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Will asked, frightened.

"**I haven't the time to explain, I am fading. Will, promise me…promise me you will keep it safe. Everything depends on it!"**

"I…" Will paused, "I will, Father."

Then, the voice of John Parry faded away after uttering "Goodbye, my son." Will was now alone, the glowing shard of the Subtle Knife in his palm. He looked back to Kirjava, still asleep and undisturbed beneath the covers.

Will closed his hand around the shard with a look of determination on his face. "I won't fail you, father. I won't." he vowed solemnly.


	2. Not Complete

Chapter Two

Not Complete

Lyra sat on the bench in the Botanical Garden and inhaled the night air and exhaled it with a calm force. Will was still on her mind. _Three weeks_. _Three weeks_ had passed since she kissed Will goodbye, and swore that she would see him again. Pantalaimon, her beloved daemon, was lying on the ground as the large red ferret he had become and was now fixed as. Lyra sat on the bench, wrapped in a red afghan that the Gyptains had given her before they'd gone back to the Fens. Ma Costa wanted to take the girl back with them, but of course, the Master would have nothing of the sort. Lyra wouldn't have minded if she went with the Gyptains, but in her heart she knew that Jordan College was her home, and would be forever.

The stars were lit brilliantly above her and the fountain reflected the pale crescent moon. Lyra's mind was fixed on one thing: _Will_. Her love for him broke the walls between their worlds and brought them together again, forever. But reality reared its ugly head, the walls raised again, and they were apart once more. Lyra knew however, that she must move on.

"You'll never be complete without him, will you?"

It was Pan, at her feet.

Lyra nodded to her daemon, who leapt up onto the bench and nuzzled his furry head into her stomach. Lyra patted his head. 

The girl returned to her room in one of the many towers of Jordan College. Pan had curled up on the windowsill as Lyra looked out onto the landscape. The stars were fading away…the dawn was coming swiftly.

Lyra awoke in the late hours of the morning. She had not removed the clothes she had worn the night before. She called for some water and, when it had arrived, she bathed. Then, she had donned a morning suit and proceeded down into the Great Hall of the College. There, the Master of Jordan College and Dame Hannah were eating a hurried breakfast. It seemed strange to Lyra, but lately the Master had been coming in very late in the morning hours of the past few days. If her own face expressed this though now, Lyra didn't know, she was too busy watching them mutter to each other, and then the Master turned to Lyra.

He stood up and walked over to her. He bowed to her respectfully, and she responded properly in kind. "You did not sleep well." The Master asked. It was not a question, it was a statement. Lyra nodded. The Master rubbed his chin and gave her a deep, thoughtful look. "Well," he said finally, "eat some breakfast and then Dame Hannah shall take you for your alethiometer lessons." He bowed to her and then turned to leave. "Wait, Master." Lyra said. The Master turned around to face her and gave her a look that showed he was listening.

"Are you leaving again?"

The Master looked as though he were suddenly in a very uncomfortably tight space.

"Yes, yes, I am."

"Will you be coming back?"

The Master understood the worry in her voice. He paused.

"We shall have to see."

Then, without another word, the Master left the hall and turned the corner. Lyra stood their, bewildered for a moment. She looked down at Pan, who gave her a look that most resembled a shrug. Then, she and her ferret daemon walked back toward the kitchen table.

Later that day, Lyra again locked herself in the Botanic Garden and basked in the memories that seemed to be of a time so long ago. Pan munched on a mouse he'd found scurrying about the pathways, not taking into accord (until he had swallowed it) that he himself had taken that form on countless occasions. Lyra would also walk along the rooftops were she, and Roger, and the children of the servants once played and had pretend wars against children of the rival colleges. Her youth seemed so far away…thousands and millions of miles away…


	3. The Shard and The Master and The Boy

Chapter Three

The Shard and the Master

The next day, Will walked over to the Botanic Garden and (after making sure no one was watching him) clambered over the fence Kirjava moved through the bars in her sleek, cat-like way. Though he couldn't quite explain it, the shard was pulling him here…here of all places. It was as if the shard had its own intentions. The warning of Iorek Brynison resurfaced in his mind, but he shook it off. The Knife was broken now, and the Infinity Star, Will was certain, was something entirely different. In his later years, Will would laugh at himself for the stupidity he'd evoked then. "Be careful," Kirjava purred, "you remember what Iorek told you." Will huffed, "Can you read my mind or something?" Kirjava rolled her cat-eyes, "Maybe."

Ignoring Kirjava's joke, Will walked further and further into the garden, following the path that the shard was telling him to follow. It was as though the shard were a person that spoke to him. It spoke to him in a voice that Will couldn't help but trust. It just told him: _Find her._ Will, of course, knew who _"her" _was: Lyra. But there was no way to find her, the windows into the other worlds had been sealed off by the angels, and the Subtle Knife had been broken into pieces. _Yeah, and my father just told me there was a mystical jewel in the tip of the knife_, Will thought to himself, trying to remind himself that almost anything was possible at this point.

Then, after taking him on a roundabout trip through the garden, the Infinity Star led him to the bench that he and Lyra were to meet on Midsummer's Day…each in their own worlds. Why had it led him here? Will opened his hand. The blade tip, which had been quivering in his hand, now lay very quiet. Will looked around.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Will…" Kirjava said.

"Quiet." Will whispered. In the distance, he heard the sound of the gate being unlocked and heavy footsteps entering. Will gasped in horror. "See! See!" Kirjava nearly screamed. "I told you we shouldn't have listened to a blade tip." Will clutched his hand around the blade tip and wanted more than anything to escape…somehow. But it was impossible. The only way out was the main door, as the back and side walls of the garden were too high to climb over, and Will heard the footsteps coming down the two paths to the door. Suddenly, however, Will had no reason to be worried of the footsteps. Instead, he had a new problem.

He and Kirjava were being pulled up into a shaft of light. They reached the top, and Will could see all of Oxford, stretched out over miles. He clutched Kirjava close to him as he blacked out.

It was a dark, stormy night. Will stood in the Botanic Garden again. Behind him he heard the sound of Lyra's giggling and then, out of the corner of his eye, saw her dash behind a wall of vines. "Lyra!" He called out, but this was responded to by more giggling. He followed the silhouette through the garden, eventually heading her off at the fountain. "Lyra." He breathed. And it was her, in all her beauty and love. They came together in a passionate kiss. For a moment, Will closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he broke away from her lips in fear. Before him was still Lyra, there was no mistake, but she was dead. Her face was pale gray and worm-eaten and the radiance of her smile was replaced with blackened and jagged teeth. Empty sockets looked back at him from where once were beautiful eyes. Will screamed. The zombie-Lyra then held the Subtle Knife aloft in her hand and cut an opening that was as wide as Will was tall. All the Specters in the Universe gushed out of it and attacked Will. They ripped into his flesh and severely mutilated him. He turned, screaming in pain, and saw his mother kneeling beside him, weeping. Will called out for her help, but his mother did not answer. Instead, she stopped weeping, got up, and then underwent a frightening change.

Will's mother was replaced by the menacing figure of Mrs. Coulter, who laughed cruelly as the Specters mutilated him to death…

Will regained consciousness in the Garden again. He got up and the first thought that struck him was: _Where are they?_ Then the memory of the shaft of light returned to him, and he looked around desperately for Kirjava, who was lying on the ground beside were he was standing. Will scooped him up and began to look around. This was indeed the Botanic Garden, but something was different about it. Instead of tall, modern buildings about it, there was a medieval air to these buildings. The gate was of a material that Will had never laid eyes on before; it was a silvery metal, not the iron that gated the garden in his world. Those were the first two things that tipped him off. The third thing was the man who walked by with a black-furred monkey on his shoulder. The monkey was talking to the man. Will could not hear the speaking, but it did not matter. After that, Will knew exactly where he was. He was in Oxford: _Lyra's_ Oxford.

Lyra was walking out to the Garden, for she had seen a strange, green shaft of light appear there, and then disappear as quickly as it had come. Despite the begging of Dame Hannah, Lyra put on an overcoat and, with Pan at her side, walked out into the calm summer day. They were closing in on the Garden when they heard something trying to clamber over the top railing.

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

"C'mon, Kirjava," came a voice that made Lyra's heart almost stop. And sure enough, Will Parry and his daemon Kirjava were over the wall and onto the grass outside. He dusted off his faded blue jeans and then turned. His eyes met Lyra's. For a long time, neither one of them said anything. Then, when that eternity ended, they rushed into an embrace.

"Will, I missed you." Lyra said, kissing his forehead lovingly. "I know, I missed you too." Will reassured her. They were soon kissing, a moment of perfection that they wanted to last for all time…but then Lyra realized something. "Will," she said in horror, "How-? How did you get here? Won't you and Kirjava die here?" A million questions, and Will had only one answer to them.

" I don't know."

Lyra fixed her face with a quizzical look. "What?"

"I just…" Will began, "It'll take a while to explain everything, let's find somewhere that we can get inside." Lyra took Will's arm and led him into Jordan College for the first time.

After a half hour, Will had finished his tale. "Your father told you?" Lyra marveled. Will nodded, "Err…or, his _particles_ did anyway." Lyra was amazed by the whole business. "The Infinity Star…" she mused. "I don't know anymore about it than you do," Will said, "because my father didn't tell me very much. He dissipated before he could tell me much about it." "But it's brought you here." Lyra said, optimistically. "Yes," Will said, "yes, it has."

"Do you have any idea how?" Lyra asked, still optimistic.

"Well…an _idea_, I guess." Will said. Lyra's full attention was on him. "I think it heard me think about wanting a way to escape, and it sucked me up into that shaft."

"And me too!" Kirjava said irritably. Pan patted her on the head with one of his furry paws in sympathy.

When the Master of Jordan returned later that evening, Lyra introduced Will to him and had Will recant his tale. The Master exhaled deeply, "This is becoming very dangerous. That," he said, gesturing to the blade tip, which was now on the table, "is very valuable and very dangerous. Men would kill to have something _that_ powerful. It must be kept safe. I'll take it down to the vault." In one moment, he reached out for it. But in the exact next second, he withdrew his hand with a yelp and his fingers began smarting as though a wasp had stung each finger. "Oh, Lord!" He called out. After a few moments, a hesitant Will slowly reached out to grab it. He laid on finger on it, then another. Then, it was in the palm of his hand. Nothing happened.

"It seems," said the Master, having his blistering hand dressed, "that it has appointed you its bearer. So it is up to you to keep it safe." Will nodded and withdrew it back to his pocket. Just then, a boy came into the Great Hall. He was maybe eleven and twelve years old and had a brown robin daemon on his shoulder. "Oh, hello, Jordey." The Master said pointedly.

The newly introduced Jordey bowed politely to the Master and took a seat beside him. The robin on his shoulder leapt down and changed into a mouse and began nibbling on a grape. "This," said the Master, "is my son. Jordey." Jordey waved to Will and Lyra, the latter of which was star-struck. "Your…_son_?" Lyra mused. The Master nodded. "It is a long story, and I have not the time to tell you it all now. I must rest now." Lyra did notice that the Master's eyes were slightly worn, as though from fatigue. The Master excused himself and then, unceremoniously, let the table and the hall.

"So, eh…" Jordey said in a Cockney accent, "Are you the girl who my dad gave that alethiometer to?" Lyra nodded, "Yeah, that's me." Jordey nodded slowly, as though his opinion of her was greatly increased. Then he then looked at Will. "Who 'err you then?" "I'm Will. Will Parry."

"Will Parry, eh?"

"Yes…that's me."

"Neat."

Will did not like this boy, there was just something he gave off that repelled him. He exchanged a glance with Lyra, who apparently had the same feeling. Pan was examining Jordey's daemon and it took the form that Pan had. Pine marten staring down pine marten, Pan finally gave a facial shrug and curled up beside Lyra.


	4. The Three Spirits and The Three Boxes

Chapter Four: Three Spirits and Three Puzzle Boxes

The next morning, Will awoke in his sleeping bag that had been set up beside Lyra's bed. At his feet was Kirjava, purring sleepily. Will also noticed a small pile of clothes at his bed, which consisted of a white, button-up shirt, gray suspenders, and a brown overcoat. Will put them on, finding them remarkably comfy, and then slipped on his sneakers. He walked precariously down the steps from the tower top to the Great Hall, where Lyra was waiting for him.

After breakfast, the two of them and their daemons traversed the buildings of Jordan College, and Lyra showed Will are the historical sites she'd told him about. Eventually, she led him down into the crypts. She tensed for a moment. "What's wrong Lyra?" Will asked, his expression darkening. Lyra exhaled deeply and turned to him. "Be careful in here, we don't know what me right run into." She whispered.

As though to completely contradict her statement, the ceiling gave way and Jordey and his daemon came falling through. A few bones fell and hit him in the head. "See, Sator! I told you turning into a giant bear was a very bad idea!" The daemon, which was now in the form of a Dotson and looking at his human sympathetically. "Or what might run into us?" Will exchanged a look with Lyra. Jordey finally noticed they were there.

"Oh, hey, it's a funny story, really. Sator was practicing his forms and we sort of broke ground and…well, here we are!" He explained, both hurriedly and sheepishly.

Lyra had not taken her hand off the handle to get into the crypts.

"You can come with us, Jordey."

The boy's expression brightened in an instant. "Wow! Really, Lyra? Thanks a bundle! Thanks a-!"

"Shut up," said Will blandly.

The crypt was as quiet as, well, a crypt as the three humans and their daemons entered it. Will was examining the coffins for names and dates, but found nothing but the pictures of the dead person's daemon superimposed on the front. "Is this how they bury everyone in your world?" Will asked Lyra, but it was Jordey who answered. "Of course. That en't what they do in your world?" Will shook his head, but Jordey had already gone to examining a particularly strange trio of coffins. They were all identical in make and appearance, save for the pictures of the daemons being engraved rather than imposed on the face of the coffin. They shone quite brilliantly in the dimness.

"Wow! Look at these, Lyra." Jordey marveled as he ran his fingers over the golden exterior. "I wouldn't touch…" Lyra began, but she was cut off. Because at that exact moment, the lid of the coffin made a bizarre "THUNK" and the lids of all three coffins slid off. Ironically, when they were looked in, there were no bodies. In one was a small sapphire, in another, a ruby, and in the last (the one Jordey opened) and emerald. "Look that this!" Jordey exclaimed, his eyes wide. His hand reached out for it and Will slapped it. "I think it's a trap."

"Are you mad? It's wealth, not a trap!"

"I've seen a lot of movies that have this sort of thing, and the valuable things are always booby trapped."

Jordey turned to Lyra, looking confused.

"Movies? Booby trapped?"

Lyra raised her hand in a sort of "I'll explain later" gesture.

Will turned to the door. "Let's get out of here before…" the door slammed shut and locked.

"…that happens!"

The torches in the room died in an instant, and they were left in pitch black darkness. This was bad enough, but when you were locked in a crypt in the dark, it was almost unbearable. Jordey, barely able to think, had Sator turn into a large firefly, so that he could at least see. "What happened?" he asked.

"Booby Trap." Will muttered.

Sator's light left a small pocket of the room for them to see in, so they gathered there. "So we're trapped here?"

"Yep."

"I can't be trapped…I've got lessons in the morning!"

"Calm down, Jordey. I'm sure we can think of a way out of here."

"Like _what_?"

Will cuffed him sharply on the head. "Shut up a minute and let me think!"

For several minutes, they were all silent (except for Jordey, who was muttering complaints about his head injury) as Will thought. However, he did not need to, because then a gust of wind filled the room and the torches re-lit. Out of the three coffins came three spectral forms, all female and clothed like witches. The first one, a stick-like, bony witch, spoke in a voice that sounded like a car that desperately needed an oil change. "Has Yambe-Akka finally come for us, sisters?"

The second, a plump witch with many warts, answered, "I hope so, we've been in that tomb for nearly 8,000 years after all."

The third's almost transparent eyes met Lyra's, and she laughed. "Hey, girls, you remember that gosling?"

The other two noticed the group of the living and laughed wildly too, as if they were a humorous joke long past.

"What's so funny?" demanded Lyra.

The third spirit chuckled, "Dearie, dear. Don't you remember?"

"Those three daemon tokens you switched around in those scholars' mouths? So long ago, little gosling?" "Why, yes," said Lyra, "I switched them around and then three figures attacked me that night." The three witches burst out laughing again. Lyra let out an annoyed growl and they dropped down to giggling again. "That was us, my dear! We were having a bit of a joke. I mean, after you're dead for a few thousand years, it kind of gets boring."

"Of course, that daemon of yours," the second witch said, indicating Pan, "gave us a hell of a fright!"

"Amen, sister." The first witch nodded.

"However, since you freed us," the third witch said, ignoring her two comrades, "we must give you a gift. Do you want wealth beyond your dreams, or a way to live forever, or…"

"How about…" Lyra began, but stopped. Not even Serafina Pekkala could do what she wanted, and she was the most powerful witch Lyra knew. The third witch apparently had read her thoughts and said, "If I were alive, I could do that, Dearie. But I've been dead for eight millennia, so I don't quite have the touch, so to speak." She let out an ungentle snort. "But I could show you the way to it, if you want."

Lyra's mind was debating upon it in one instant, and in the second instant, she had made her decision.

"No."

The witch's expression turned to one of extreme surprise.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

The witch looked upon Lyra with a new found respect, as did the other two.

"Very well then, dear. But do let us grant you a trinket or two of our appreciation."

The witches' spirits gave them each a mysterious golden puzzle box. "What are they for?" Jordey asked. "They are special to you, or at least they should be. You will know their purpose soon enough."

"Wait," Lyra called the spirits of the witches as they began to dematerialize, "why did you give us these things?"

The third witch had only herself from the waist up left to speak. "You will need then." Then there was a gust of wind and they were gone.

The three of them had no time to speak, however, as Will yelped at the warmth in his pocket. He drew out the blade tip that held the Infinity Star within it and it was red as though it had just come from the forge, but it was cool to the touch. A shaft of light enveloped the three humans and their daemons and they were being pulled up. Up…up…up…into another world.


	5. A New World

Chapter Five: A New World

Will regained consciousness in a snowy field in the middle of nowhere. Lyra was off to his right, still unconscious, and Jordey and his daemon had landed in a tree branch. He looked rather pathetic, struggling to get down from up there. Will watched, as did Kirjava, as Jordey finally just feel out of the tree entirely. Then he got up and moved in a sort of James Bond way to Will.

"It was nothing," he said coolly.

"Right." Will said, trying hard to hide his sarcasm.

Lyra came to a few minutes later. They all checked to make sure they still had their puzzle boxes and it had not been some bizarre black out they'd all had, but they all had them. "So at least were not crazy." Will murmured.

"Hey!" Jordey exclaimed after a moment of holding his puzzle box. "It's vibrating!" And so it was. The pieces of the puzzle box seemed to move on their own and then, amazingly, they just stop. When Jordey tried to move the pieces further, they would not budge. "That's odd." He said. They had little time to ponder this; however, as they had little time to ponder this, as soon they found themselves with the points of stone spears in their faces.

The Master saw the gaping hole in reality, a hole into another world. Whereas it was spring in Jordan College, it was winter there, or somewhere with a constant tundra. Within an hour, he had donned artic gear, and then he and his raven daemon entered the vortex, unsure of what they might find there. But the Master was certain that Lyra and her son had gone through there, and possibly her friend Will as well. Sooner than later, he found himself in a snowy clearing. He looked at his surroundings precariously…

For the last hour, Will, Lyra, and Jordey had been marching across the massive clearing, spurred on by a party of men wearing heavy furs and a grotesque odor. Trying to talk to them was useless, as they spoke with only grunts and growls. Eventually, they reached a large village in a shielded valley. Being led down, they were greeted by more of the artic cavemen, who led them to a long, tall hut in the center of the village, surrounded by the other, less grant huts. Out of the hut came a man, who wore the trappings of a hunter (khaki pants, khaki long-sleeved shirt, etc.) that had been adapted to artic life. The man also had the look of someone very experienced in the field. His nose was sharp, his hair was braided, much in the style of the cavemen, and he had the warm smile of a cosmopolite about him.

"Welcome to Valley Village," he said, "I am Alexander Rosenberg." Lyra and Jordey had absolute no clue as to whom this man was. Will, on the flip side of the coin, did. "You're Alexander Rosenberg?" Will marveled, "_The_ Alexander Rosenberg? The same Alexander Rosenberg who found the temple of Montezuma deep in the jungles of Central America? The same Alexander Rosenberg who…" Lyra cleared her throat and Will remembered his companions.   
"Uh…"

"Yes. I am, as you say, _the_ Alexander Rosenberg." The man let out a wry chuckle. "But you have yet to introduce me to yourselves."

"Oh, I'm sorry sir," Will said, he pointed to each of his companions in turn, "My friends here are Lyra Silvertongue and Jordey, and I'm William Parry."

"Will _Parry_? Are you, per chance, the son of John Parry?"

"That's me."

Mr. Rosenberg's face lit up with Will's words "_That's me_." He graciously welcomed the group into his tent and offered them an array of exotic foods from a wooden tray and a warm, green drink from a handmade tea pot. "So tell me," Mr. Rosenberg said, as he poured Jordey a small glass of the green liquid, "How is you father? Have you seen him?" Painfully, Will recanted the tale of the night he met his father and how the witch killed him, and how he, in turn, had killed her. Mr. Rosenberg was close to tears by the end of it all. "Dear me, dear me. I'm sorry to here that, my boy. We were good friends, your father and I."

"You were?" Will asked.

"Oh, goodness yes!" Mr. Rosenberg's grin returned again. "We went to college together and were the best of friends. But..." his grin faded but a little. "…we had a bit of a falling out a few years back."

"What happened?" Lyra broke in. "Well…I sort of was attracted to his wife," he said (he gave Will an unsettled look), "your mother." Will was suddenly uncomfortable. Jordey, desperate to change the subject (but hardly able to grasp the magnitude of the situation), spoke. "So how did you end up here?" "Well," Mr. Rosenberg continued, "I heard that Mr. Parry had disappeared, so I funded an expedition to investigate." He took a breath, and then continued. "We found a gaping hole in reality, for all _I_ know, the hole you came through, and things from another world attacked us. They were almost ghost, but they glided along the ground in a way that was almost human…"

"Specters!" Lyra let out.

"Whatever you want to call 'em, they were evil. They ate at the men I had with me and they were all lifeless. Like zombies, y'know? I only escaped by running through the portal and walking into a mist…"

"I fell," he continued, "for what seemed an eternity. Then, next thing I knew, I was here and I became one of the natives." "Didn't they attack you?" Jordey asked annoyingly. "Oh, no, they didn't. Did they do that to you?" Rosenberg asked. "Oh, yes, they did." Jordey grumbled. "Well, they didn't attack me, and they even told me why."

"Why?" Will asked.

"They said that their last Wiseman had died and had had no children, so there had been a prophecy that said the next Wiseman would fall from the sky and live forever."

"And that's you?"

"Yes…that's me."

The three children marveled at the man for minutes on end, and then Rosenberg called for a few of the barbarians to come in. His speech was a sort of bird chirp, and Lyra found it musical. The two men who entered took them away from the large hut and led them off to two huts that were only slightly smaller. Will and Lyra took on hut, along with their daemons, and Jordey and his daemon took the other one. Soon after this, Will fell asleep in one of the two cots in the hut.


	6. Grimgnaws

Chapter Six: Grimgnaws

The next morning, two of the tribeswomen clothed Will and Lyra in heavily jerkins and cloaks of animal skins. Jordey entered, wearing something similar, and his daemon, Sator, had taken the form of a brown bear cub. They met Dr. Rosenberg at his hut and had an interesting breakfast as he told them a little about his research. Just when they were finishing up, conveniently enough, a horn sounded. Dr. Rosenberg grew stiff.

"What's wrong?" Jordey asked. "The alarm horn." Rosenberg said. He told them to stay inside and he hastily went out from the hut.

The three children met in a circle. "What do you think is going on?" Will asked. Lyra shrugged. From the look of Jordey's face, he wanted to look out of the flap of the hut, but was restraining himself with great effort. After a few minutes, Lyra gave out a huff of frustration. "I say we go find out anyway."

"But Dr. Rosenberg told us to stay here, Lyra."

"Yeah, I agree with 'im, Lyra. We should stay here."

An argument would've broken out, but it didn't. Because at that exact moment, a wolf the size of a man burst in through the flap of the tent.

Lyra screamed. Will jumped to his feet and motioned to draw the Subtle Knife. But then he remembered that he no longer had it. He looked back at the wolf. Not only was the black furred creature the size of a man, but it stood on two feet like a man. It also wore a suit of solid gray armor. "It's like one of the armored bears," Lyra whispered to Will. Will agreed, but the armor was the only thing this creature had in common with the kin of Iorek Brynison. Evil was the epitome of this creature, and it leaked from behind its eyelids. The creature circled around the small group and their daemons, but did not attack, its eyes turning from one to the other.

Lyra clutched Pan tightly to her chest, Will raised up his arms to block the wolf from Lyra and Jordey. The wolf licked its lips in a way that was most unsettling, and then charged at them. The next thing that Lyra and Will saw was the wolf's teeth in Jordey's left arm. Apparently, he had tried to be a hero. The wolf tightened its jaws around Jordey's arm. But the boy stood unbowed, grabbed the creature by the throat and began to squeeze. Little by little, the creature released its grip, and Jordey's grip around the wolf's throat tightened. The wolf was lacking oxygen, so it released its jaws completely to get a breath. This gave Jordey just enough time to ram it head-first, quite literally. The wolf fell to its knees and, at the last second, slashed Jordey in the ribs. The wolf was dead, and Jordey was badly injured. Dr. Rosenberg burst in, saw the wolf on the ground, and then saw Jordey.

"Dear God," he said. "Maybe I can help," came a voice from behind him. It was the Master of Jordan, clothed in artic gear and a gunshot slung over his shoulder. His raven daemon was on his shoulder. He took some bloodmoss out of his satchel and applied it to his son's wounds. "I don't know if that'll help," Dr. Rosenberg said. "They're very few wounds that bloodmoss can't help." Lyra tried to re-assure him. "No, Jordey's shouldn't have been scratched in the first place." Rosenberg said. "Why do you say that?" The Master asked. "That was a black wolf, or a grimgnaw, as the tribespeople call them. They bite humans and other animals and turn them into their own kind. Once they're bitten, it's too late. Sure, there are medicines that can delay the change, but once they're bitten, they're bitten. If they don't constantly take the medicine, they change. And even when they take the medicine, they still act as the grimgnaws do."

A grim tale, to be sure. The entire group was silent for a long moment, and then they snapped to the present. "We need to escape!" Lyra said, alarmed. "There might be more!" Rosenberg agreed, and then left to send out the order. The children packed their things and left the tent with the Master (who carried Jordey). They met Dr. Rosenberg at the Stables, as directed. Will and Lyra rode one horse, The Master and Jordey rode another and Dr. Rosenberg took the last one. They then joined a caravan headed farther north. "Where are we going?" Will asked, pulling the reins on his horse so they could catch up to Dr. Rosenberg.

"To the Silver Tower."


	7. The Book

Chapter Seven

The Book

The next three days were a desperate track to the Silver Tower. The grimgnaws did not attack again, but they were not far off, as Dr. Rosenberg pointed out to Will and Lyra early on the third day. "The Silver Tower," He said, "is the only place where the grimgnaws will not go."

"Why is that?" Lyra asked. Dr. Rosenberg shrugged. "I don't know, and neither do any of the villagers here, apparently the tower is much older than the villagers are."

The Master was in the back of a caravan with Jordey. Bloodmoss had been applied properly to all his wounds, but the poor boy was still moaning in pain. A tribeswoman held a rattle over him and shook it violently. The Master had a growing suspicion that this was the villagers' death rattle. The tribeswoman gave him a sign that he took for meaning that she would watch Jordey. Then (reluctantly) he left the wagon to join Will, Lyra, and Dr. Rosenberg. "How is Jordey fairing?" Will asked.

"As well as can be expected," The Master said grimly. That meant, Lyra knew, not well at all. "He'll be moderately okay," Dr. Rosenberg tried to say optimistically (but failed), "as long as we keep the moondirt and that Bloodmoss of your's on him, Master."

"Moondirt?" Will asked.

"It's a compound that we often use for repelling the grimgnaws, works fairly well as a medicine, too."  
Will nodded, understanding.

Within the next hour, they reached the valley that the Silver Tower stood in. It was leaned sideways, Will noticed, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it was indeed made of pure silver. "Amazing," Lyra spoke his thoughts.

"How come we didn't see it before we've come this close?" The Master asked.

"There's something mysterious about it," Dr. Rosenberg said, "you can't see it without being within twenty feet of it or so." Without another word, he spoke the traveling group in a language that was a series of grunts. The entire group hastened to the tower. Soon, they reached the fifty-foot tall door. Dr. Rosenberg grunted directions to the tribesmen and at least five dozen of them ran up to the door and began to push it in.

Will felt a burning in his pocket, he winced. "What's wrong, Will?" Lyra asked. Will pulled the tip of the Subtle Knife out of his pocket. "The Infinity Star," he told her, "it's doing something." A ray of blue light shot from the tip toward the door, where the dozens of men were pushing it open. There was a sound of a lock being undone (though it was extremely loud) and the doors opened completely…and stayed there.

"That's…" Dr. Rosenberg was lost in awe, "That was…"

"The Infinity Star." Will said, looking down to marvel at the blade tip in his hand. But, suddenly, the tip got red hot and Will dropped it down into the snow. It burned through and then, as Will looked down, he did not see it.

Instead, he saw a small, blue sphere that was about the size of a marble. Will picked it up. It was cool to the touch. "So _that's _the Infinity Star." Lyra said.

"Yes," Will said, "I guess it is." He held it up to the sun and found that it was not a blue sphere, nor any other individual hue, but an entire kaleidoscope of colors in the brightest, most brilliant forms. "Amazing…" Dr. Rosenberg said, "Simply amazing!"

That night, Will and Lyra recanted their tale to the point where the portal opened and brought them to this world. "Astounding," he said, "talking bears, aeronauts, a Land of the Dead, a knife that could open gates between worlds…I'm amazed."

"Well," Lyra said, "it all happened."

"I believe you," Dr. Rosenberg said. He looked at Will, "and after I saw what that boy's sphere could do, I'm just about ready to believe anything."

They got into the Tower, but they did not rest easily. Jordey's condition was growing worse. He seemed to getting much, much worse. His daemon, Sator, was looking incredibly lean and seemed to blink in and out of view when Jordey's grimgnaw persona clashed with his human side. "The grimgnaw side of him is coming out," Dr. Rosenberg said nervously, "the medicine women are trying there best to keep it at bay, but…I can't guarantee…" The Master was now very distraught. He had followed Lyra, Will, and Jordey into this world, only to be too late to save his son.

"I know…" Lyra patted him on the shoulder, trying in vain to comfort him. Will, however, went towards the tent where the tribesmen were housing Jordey for treatment. "Will, wait!" Dr. Rosenberg yelled to him. Will spun around and saw Dr. Rosenberg holding a silver necklace before him. "If you go in there, wear this, Jordey will not bite you when you wear it." Will took the necklace and slipped it over his neck. A wave of warmth passed through his body. Will then thanked Rosenberg and entered the tent. The three of four elderly women in the tent barely gave him a second glance, either having heard his conversation with Rosenberg or seeing the necklace he now wore. Jordey's arms were chained to the floor, and he jerked about angrily. His eyes were blood red and Sator was missing from his side.

"Jordey, can you hear me?" Will asked. The boy that had once been his friend growled angrily at him.

"It's me…It's Will."

A sudden change flushed over the boy who sat there in tattered rags and self-inflicted wounds. He began breathing furiously and his eyes reverted back to their pearl-blue color. Jordey gagged in surprise.

"Will?"

"Yes," Will nodded, "It's me."

"Where are Lyra, and dad? And is Dr. Rosenberg okay?"

"They're fine," a voice came from behind Will, "one of them happens to be right here…"

Will turned around to see Lyra and Pan, standing in the flap of the tent. Lyra also wore a silver necklace.

"How are you, Jordey?"

"Pretty good," Jordey said, a bit of his good-humor still in him.

Meanwhile, at their feet, Pan and Sator chatted. "What is happening to you, Sator?" Pan asked him, "Where do you go when Jordey has his fits?" "You should know better than I," Sator's mouse-like form gave a shrug, "Both you and Kirjava have been in the Land of the Dead."

Pan swallowed, and then nodded his pine marten head understandingly.

"It's so painful." Sator breathed.

"I know it is."

Kirjava's sleek cat-like body slipped over from beside Will to talk to them.

"I do, as well.'

"It doesn't seem that Jordey or I will be around for much longer."

"It seems that way."

Pan couldn't say anything to make Kirjava's last statement any more comforting for Sator. He was going to die, there was absolutely no way around it. Suddenly, however, Sator's form seemed to blink in and out of focus again. Jordey's eyes had turned red again, and his violent behavior resumed. The medicine women shooed them from the tent.

That night, Lyra slept comfortably in Will's arms. Will however, could not sleep. His mind was still in the tent with Jordey, who had been sedated so that the villagers could get some sleep. He rolled the little blue marble to and fro in his hands. He closed his eyes and thought about waking Lyra to tell him of the dream he had had in the Botanic Garden, but she looked so peaceful laying on him, feeling safe as every in his embrace. Finally, when Will was about to drop off, he heard the sound of a metal clinking against the stone floor. Stealthily, he moved out from under Lyra, snatched up Kirjava, and followed the sound of heavy footsteps. Without thinking, he pulled out the Infinity Star and held it out before him. It generated a rich, vibrating blue light.

This did not disturb the sleeping tribesmen, who seemed to take no notice of it at all. _Maybe_, Will thought, _maybe it's a light that only I can see._ This thought was cast aside as he saw someone that quite amazed him. Dr. Rosenberg was headed down the passage to a single, man-height door, which he looked behind himself before he opened. He entered and shut it behind him. Will shrugged to himself and followed. He opened the door with a surprisingly loud clang and said to no one in particular, "_We need to be invisible._" He had not looked ahead when he turned to see Dr. Rosenberg, standing about ten feet away from him. The good doctor had looked back to see the crack in the door where the apparently unseen Will and Kirjava had come through. Will leapt into the shadows as Dr. Rosenberg came to reseal the door again.

"What the-?" Kirjava, now awake called out. Will clapped a hand to his feline daemon's mouth. "Quiet," Will whispered shrilly, Dr. Rosenberg looking over in there direction, but apparently seeing nothing at all. The man turned to a massive bookshelf and pulled out an old tome with a green cover. He set it on a stand, opened it, and began to read carefully. It was an hour before he stopped, turned about, and left the room. Ironically, he had left the book open on the stand without as much as a care. Will, with the unseen Kirjava creeping by his side, walked up to it. Inside was writing in a language that Will could not begin to fathom the meaning of, and several sketches of a familiar-looking blue sphere. Will stepped back from the book in shock. What interest would Dr. Rosenberg have in the Infinity Star? _Oh, _he thought bitterly to himself, _despite the fact that it's a magical jewel that can do almost anything on command?_

Will considered going back for Lyra, but then he saw something that took his mind off of it. It was a passage in the book…it was in English. Will recognized it as Dr. Rosenberg, for he figured, _Who else would have written it?_ The words in the passage were:

_Three shall fall out of the sky_

_One shall fade away_

_Then, at last, the tower falls_

_And then the vengeance of the Star shall into fruition fly _

Will looked up from the book and then looked to the little blue orb in his hand. What kind of vengeance would the Infinity Star have to enacted? Before he could ponder further, a hand fell on his shoulder. "Will, what are you doing here?" Will spun around and saw Dr. Rosenberg. His traditional smile was gone. The warmth in his eyes was replaced by an icy glare. "I was…" he stuttered. _How can he see me?_ Will thought. "Snooping?" Rosenberg finished for him. Will was silent. "Get out of here." Rosenberg said, "Do not come here again." Will, without another word, snatched up Kirjava and sped out of the room.


	8. The Beast Within

Chapter Eight

The Beast Within

The next morning, Will told Lyra and the Master of his encounter with Dr. Rosenberg. The man did not return that morning, nor even when evening came. So, the trio went to check-up on Jordey. The infected boy was lashing at his metallic restraints with the grim inaccuracy of a beast. Lyra tried to come up to him, but the medicine women forbade. She spoke in broken English. "Almost gone, is friend." Lyra nodded grimly, hardly wanting to accept Jordey's fate. The Master looked sadly at the shell of his son, now completely controlled by the beast within it. Jordey's eyes were a blood red, the same blood red color of the grimgnaw that had bitten him. The exact same color. One of the tribeswomen began to shake a gourd over Jordey and chant in their strange, native language.

Burn marks appeared all about Jordey's skin as the women continued chanting. The boy's eyes glinted back to their native blue for only a split second. "Stop!" Lyra screamed hysterically, "You'll kill him!" She pushed the lead woman out of the way and knocked the gourd to the ground, shattering it into a thousand shards. The woman yelled out in the language of her people as Jordey broke free of his chains and let out a fearsome howl. Without bothering to push them away, he ran on all fours past the Master and Will and left the tent. Lyra looked over to where Jordey had been chained. The mouse daemon Sator had fallen to the ground after being separated from her human and died. The body faded away within seconds.

The Master unslung his shotgun from his shoulder. "What are you going to do?" Will asked. "Only what I have to do." He breathed. The three of them ran out of the tent to watch Jordey running down the corridors, his features becoming more and more wolf-like. The Master aimed his gun right at his son's heart. "No! Don't do it!" Lyra yelled. "What?" The Master asked, puzzled. "There's a part of his soul still in there! I 'ent gonna let you kill him." The Master turned to her. "Lyra, Sator's dead. Will saw it, you saw it, and I saw it. Jordey's a grimgnaw now," He aimed for the wolf's heart again, "and he needs to be stopped." "He's your son!" Will protested. The Master's hands faltered. "There may still be a chance to save him!" Lyra cried. The Master's rifle dropped to his side.

Suddenly, Will felt a burning sensation in his pocket. He pulled out Jordey's cube, the one the witches had given him. The top of it had now gone completely away from it, falling from the cube and crumbling into dust, revealing a secret compartment. "What is it?" Lyra asked. "It's…" Will blinked, pulling it out, "It's a wolf's tooth." For a long moment, there was silence. Dead silence. Then, the Master spoke. "So…so this was my son's fate?" He asked rhetorically, "To die a beast!" Lyra had never seen the Master come as close to losing control as he was now. "No," She said. Both Will and the Master turned to her. There had to be a chance to save Jordey, Lyra had to believe that.

Dr. Rosenberg smiled devilishly as he saw the massive army of Grimgnaws entering the room before him. Yes, he still stood within the tower, but now he had learnt enough to bend it to his very will, even so much as allowing the hated wolves to desecrate the 'sacred' place with their footsteps. Rosenberg had promised that the villagers would be powerless to fight them, that the Grimgnaws could retake the land stolen from them so long ago. Rosenberg's smiled only broadened. The only three that stood in his way, would soon be taking orders from _him_.

It was another of those rare moments in which another person's daemon spoke to others. "It doesn't look good," The Master's raven croaked. "There are dozens of Grimgnaws flooding into the tower. Apparently, they have broken the spell." Lyra relayed this to the medicine women who spoke the best English and she, in turn, told the tribe. "We must prepare for the worst, I believe." The raven said to Lyra, and Lyra in turn said to the medicine woman. After a minute of discussion amongst the tribe, the medicine woman returned. "We join you in fight," She said, "We fight black wolves." Soon, preparations for battle were well underway.

Will, Kirjava, and the Master and his daemon took the first watch that night. Will, because he was too worried and excited about the battle to come, and the Master because he felt too much pain to sleep. When Will or Lyra tried to comfort him, he shook them off, so Will found it best not to say anything about it. In fact, he was silent the whole night. The Master, meanwhile, watched into the shadows in vain for any sight of his son returning normal. Though he knew it wouldn't happen…he knew his son was lost forever to him.

Jordey, now only a shell of his former self, crept along the corridors on all-fours. All that was left was the primal instinct of the beast. He had no feelings, no conscience, no nothing! He was now an animal, not the charming, cute, though slightly annoying, boy he had once been. The beast within was giving the orders.


End file.
